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A motherboard is the main circuit
board in a personal computer and contains the main connectors and
pathways for the central processing unit (CPU), expansion slots, systems
buses, memory modules (RAM), smaller circuit boards (daughter boards),
and peripheral devices. A motherboard is also known as a system board,
a mainboard, or a mobo.

What does a motherboard do? A motherboard
provides the main highway for all electrical communication
that occurs in a computer between any of its components. If a computer
were a human body, the motherboard would be the central nervous system.
While it is possible to remove at least some of a computers components
and still have it function, without a motherboard, a personal computer
is just a near empty box without life.

Historically, motherboards in modern
personal computers were derived from the internal circuitry of mainframe
computers and do owe their existence in more general terms to any electronic
device that required some form of printed circuitry board. Numerous
common household devices contain circuit boards including television
sets and VCRs. They are the unsung heroes of electrical
devices in that they do much of the work that occurs in the device but,
unless you open up the box and look inside, they are never seen.

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